Winter Safety Tips
Winter is a great time to enjoy the outdoors. There are many fun activities, such as skiing, snowboarding, sledding, ice skating, and tubing but remember safety comes first. Here are some tips to keep you and your kids safe.
- Dress in layers.
- Consider wicking fabric, which pulls moisture from the body to the exterior of the shirt where it can evaporate more easily as a base layer
- Know the signs of hypothermia: uncontrolled shivering, impaired vision or speech, stiff muscles, pale and cold skin.
- Wear hats, gloves, coats, boots; keep your body warm.
- Set time limits on outdoor play
- Be alert for frostbite. If your child complains of numbness or pain in fingers, toes, cheeks, ears or nose while playing in the snow, take the child indoors. Remove all wet clothing and immerse affected body part(s) in warm, not hot, water
- Understand wind chill. As speed of wind increases, it carries heat away from the body more quickly, and causes skin temperature to drop.